background signal-real time pcr - (May/27/2005 )

Does background signal come from quencher and is background signal the same as baseline signal?

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The fluorescent intensity is modulated due to the proximity between fluorophore and quencher of the oligonucleotide. The quencher do not get 100% of singal. During the PRC extension, the quenching is released and the fluorescent signal increases several fold.
U must remember the FRET (Fluorescent Resonance Energy Transfer) mechanism, the energy is transfered to the quencher witch energy emission is in a proximal wavelength. there are some spectral overlap between the channels for detection, depending on the hardware used, so maybe part of the background signal comes from these.

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